


The Curious Mind Of Severus Snape

by Hydenmail



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Autistic Severus Snape, Freeform, Gen, Hogwarts Third Year, Neurodivergent Snape Week, Severitus, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 21:20:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13579158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hydenmail/pseuds/Hydenmail





	1. Chapter 1

"No." Severus said, firmly.

"It will only be until Harry returns to Hogwarts, Severus." Albus Dumbledore replied. "Sirius Black knew about Lily's sister, Petunia. Her name, age, how long until he tracks Harry down to his aunt and uncle's address. You are the last person that Black would suspect of harboring the boy, you are the best candidate for the job. And you never know, this might help you."

"Help me, help me how?" Severus prompted. He was far too anxious about what the Potter brat was doing out in his hallway, to pay Dumbledore much attention. He didn't need to hear what he had to say, he already knew his answer and he was sticking to it.

"Well, you are always saying that you struggle with social cues and empathizing with others." Albus put forth. "Maybe you could use this as an opportunity to learn and improve?"

"You remembered me saying that?" Severus questioned.

"Yes, you talked about it at the Christmas party while you were hiding from Gilderoy in the storage cupboard." Albus smiled as if it was a fond memory.

"I had had a tad too much sherry that night." Severus nodded, feeling guilty that he hadn't been listening to Albus as much as he had apparently been listening to him. He then wondered if he had enough bread for the weekend. "That man Lockhart had no regard for personal space. Also on an unrelated note, do you think I have enough bread to last until monday?"

"You did have three glasses." Albus pointed out. "And from what I saw you have half a loaf left."

"Phew." Severus smiled. "Good. Any less would mean going to the shops." He then held up his hands as if to push away the thought and wrinkled his nose.

"But you like going to the shops." Dumbledore frowned, in confusion.

"I do, for most things-"

"But not clothing-"

"Not clothing. Never clothing."

"So, why don't you want to go shopping?"

"I need to give myself time and enough motivation." Severus explained, running his hands down to meet in the middle of his stomach and extended them outwards in a straight line.

"Ah, you need to psyche yourself up first." Albus smiled. "With that said, shall we get back to the topic at hand?"

"You know I don't like acting less than typical in front of my students, the very idea makes me extremely uncomfortable." Severus stated. "And acting typical over long periods of time causes me to have burnouts. I will not act that way over my time off. This is Severus' time off."

"You act yourself around most of the members of staff." Albus said.

"Yes, but that's different. I've known you long enough to feel I can trust you." Severus admitted.

"D'aw." Albus cooed at him.

"Stop that." Severus ordered.

"Severus, this is your house." Albus reaffirmed. "Harry is one student, not a class of twenty five. And this might help you both to have a better understanding of each other."

"You know where the door is, right?" Severus insisted as he stepped around the Headmaster and went to check on the bread.

"I suppose, I should have known you weren't up to the challenge." Albus hummed, stroking his hand through his beard. "Maybe I should have asked Minerva instead?"

Severus turned and stormed back to where the older wizard stood. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do, old man." Severus said in a warning tone, pointing to Albus accusingly. "You're trying to implement reverse-psychology on me, in order to trick me into saying "yes". I'm not stupid."

"But is it working?" Albus prompted. When Severus couldn't bring himself to answer, Albus clapped his hands together, jovially. "Well, I hope you two have fun together."

"I didn't say yes." Severus reminded Dumbledore but it was too late as the Headmaster had found the front door.

"Harry, behave yourself and have a wonderful time." Dumbledore beamed and opening up the front door he left with a "Ta-ta."

Severus scowled after the man before forcefully slamming the door shut and retrieving his wand, he flicked it causing the locks to all click into place. Turning around he was met with a wide eyed Potter, who was still stood like a moron with his trunk in his hand and mouth hanging open. "What are you staring at?" Severus snapped. "Get in that kitchen and don't you dare touch anything because I will know." He then watched as the boy scuttled away like a cockroach and already, he could feel a headache on the horizon. Blasted old coot and his foolish meddling.


	2. Chapter 2

Severus stalked into the kitchen and briefly looking to the bread he noted that there was indeed half a loaf left. Giving it a quick squeeze to check it was still fresh, he smiled satisfied.He then turned on his heel towards Potter, who had managed to close his mouth but was still staring like a gormless dunderhead. "Potter, you are to stand there and do the one thing you have yet to grasp, in your pathetically short life." he prefaced as he paced the tiled flooring, hands pressed together, gently bouncing his index fingers against his lip. "I'm going to explain the rules of my house and you, Potter, you are going to listen and actually respect those rules." He then stepped closer to the boy and whispered "No Weasley and Granger and no Professor Dumbledore to coddle you. Defy my rules and I will make torture at the hands of the Dark Lord look like a delightful evening, understood?" Placing his hands against the wall on either side of the boy's head as he eyed him, daring him to try anything.

"Yes, Professor." Potter nodded, vigorously. His eyewear threatening to slip off his nose.

Somewhat perturbed by this, Severus pushed the glasses back up onto the bridge of the boy's nose. He nodded and pushing away from the wall, he walked over to stand besides his fridge-freezer. "Truth be told, I don't have many rules in my house. However, if you take an item from somewhere, once you are done; put-it-back." He stressed. "I will not tolerate untidiness under my roof. Everything has it's place, even you Potter. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Professor." Potter agreed.

"That sentiment extends to your bedroom, it's your duty to keep it clean. Not mine." Severus said, waving his finger at the boy accusingly. "I know how slovenly teenagers can be. I don't have a house elf, so you are wholly responsible for taking care of your dirty laundry. You grew up in a muggle household, so I would hope that you'd know how to operate a washing machine by now?"

"Yes, sir." Potter answered with an arrogant air to him.

"You will be allowed to write to your friends but only once a week. I don't want my house flooded with owls." Severus insisted. Albus had informed him that Potter was to be kept in the dark about Black and the real reason he had invaded Severus' house, the Headmaster had insisted upon trying to keep things "normal" for the boy as to not make him suspicious. And if Potter was known for anything, it was finding a way into foolish or dangerous situation.

"Fine by me." Potter smirked, shoving his free hand into his jacket pocket. At this Severus folded his arms and squinted at the boy, who quickly added "Sir."

"Don't-push-your-luck." Severus warned Potter. Then turning his head away, he unfolded his arms and said "You will not leave this house without asking my permission first. You will not be left in this house alone. And as much as it pains me to say it, that means that if I go out ... you have to come with me." He swallowed hard at this admission.

"Can't I just stay here?" Potter tried to bargain, desperately. "You can lock me in my room until you get back? I really don't mind."

"As tempting as locking you away would be, Potter, I'm afraid this isn't negotiable." Severus stated, firmly. "To put it plainly enough, I don't trust in my house. Let alone the idea of you being left unattended. No, you will accompany me on my outings and that is final." He then moved past Potter and began to ascend the stairs but stopped halfway when he noticed that Potter wasn't behind him. So, going back downstairs he grabbed Potter by the wrist of his empty hand and dragged him to the upstairs landing. Then removing his wand from his pocket, Severus made a sharp zigzag motion before pressing the tip to his parents old bedroom. From the other side of the door came a scrapping noise as furniture changed and moved to best suit his needs. When the sounds had stopped, he pocketed his wand and pushed open the door. He then motioned for the boy to step inside, following quickly after. "For the foreseeable future, this will act as your room. You will go to bed no later than ten pm and I expect you to keep it as tidy as you found it. That will be all."

"Wait, is that all the rules?" Potter asked.

"Were you not listening earlier when I said I didn't have many rules in my house?" Severus prompted. "Because I would be more than happy to extend my list."

"No, no." Potter said, hurriedly. "That's fine. More than fine."

Severus fixed Potter with a quizzical look and then when the boy averted his eyes; Severus left and headed for his chair in the living room.


	3. Chapter 3

The next few days felt like taking his O.W.Ls all over again. Stressful. Though, Potter tended to stick to his room and only come out to eat food or use the bathroom, it didn't mean Severus wasn't worried about what the little termite was up to. Even when he tried to distract himself by reading, his eyes and mind began to wonder to the patch of ceiling where Potter's bedroom was. What was he doing up there? Why was it so quiet? Was he keeping to the one owl a week quota that Severus had set down? Or was he secretly going against his ruling to spite Severus? To sabotage the already frail order he had built up over the years? To try and bring him down from the inside? But then Severus had reminded himself that Potter wasn't smart enough to come up with such a plan. But then he remember the incident with the stone and the car and the Chamber Of Secrets. He did not sleep well that night as he kept vigilant watch with a torch pointed at Potter's bedroom door.

It was on monday morning that Severus noticed the first sign of insubordination. He had been writing his shopping list, intermittently checking the clock on the wall for the time. He was already in an anxious mood as it would be his and Potter's first outing together. He had of course prepped the boy on what was happening and requested that he be dressed and ready to leave. Severus had a very rigid schedule when it came to shopping and he didn't want to be late leaving the house. He was almost done writing his list when he opened up one of the overhead cupboards and froze. There staring him in the face was the parsley. He looked at it in confusion for a moment before snatching it from the shelf, wheeling around to face the doorway. "POTTER!"

The boy casually swanned into the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. "Are we going, now?"

"No, we are not going yet." Severus stressed, then holding the herb jar out to the boy, he demanded "What is this?"

Potter frowned at this before saying "Parsley, sir?"

"What is the parsley doing in the cupboard, Potter? What is the parsley doing in the cupboard?" Severus questioned.

"Huh, I must have put it in there by accident." Potter hummed. "My aunt and uncle keep their herbs in the cupboard, I must have just placed it there out of pure habit."

"That's not the point." Severus stated. "The parsley shouldn't be in the cupboard. It belongs in the spice rack with the other herbs-"

"It's really not that big of a deal." Potter dismissed, fixing Severus with a strange look. Then reaching over, Potter took the parsley out of Severus' hand and placed it back in the spice rack. "There, see? It's fine."

"It ... you..." Severus muttered and taking in a calming breath he said "That's not the point. The point is I told you to put things back when you were done with them and you didn't do it."

"Are you really going to hold it against me?" Potter prompted. "It was just a lapse of judgement."

Severus stopped in thought for a moment and said "Yes. That and your disrespectful attitude." He then looked to the clock and felt the colour drain from his face at the time. "Go stand near the door." He should have been putting his shoes on by now. "Go on." he said, shooing Potter with his hands.

"Okay then. " Potter frowned walking out of the kitchen and leaving Severus to finish his list as quickly as possible.


	4. Chapter 4

The klaxon sounded while the barriers began to lower as Severus raced down the subway. "Potter, this is what happens when you dawdle."

"You-you never said anything about taking a-a train." Potter patted as he jogged up to where Severus was stood beneath the metal railway bridge.

"We're not taking a train, what on earth gave you that impression?" Severus asked, wrinkling his brow at this.

"But then why-" Potter began.

"Shh!" Severus snapped at the boy as he heard the distinctive rattling sound. Then less than a second later, the roar of the twelve minutes past ten could be heard passing overhead, amplified by the subway. Severus gently bit the corner of his bottom lip as he smiled at the satisfying noise as carriage after carriage ran across the bridge. When the noise finally died away, he sighed and began to walk up the slope that led to Cokeworth's shopping district. "Come along, Potter. And take that stupid look off your face."

He headed straight for the local supermarket, holding a basket's handles in the crook of his arm, he pulled out the shopping list. "Okay, what's on the list?" Potter prompted as they walked by the metal detectors.

"Why do you want to know?" Severus asked, suspicious as to the boy's intent.

"Well, if I have to go shopping with you, I might as well be useful." Potter suggested.

Severus squinted at the Gryffindor. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing." Potter said. "I just thought, it would be better than just following you around the shop."

Severus still didn't trust the boy but showed him the list. "Fine." he drawled, warily. "But I'm keeping a close eye on you." After glancing at the list Potter started to walk off towards the fruit and vegetable aisle. "Where are you going?"

"To get the apples and grapes." Potter told him.

"No, bread is at the top of the list." Severus pointed out.

"I know." Potter nodded. "But the fruit is right there." He then gestured to the aisle with his hand.

"Are you hard of hearing because if you are I suggest having it seen to. But to reiterate: it is not on the top of the list." Severus informed the boy, tapping his list with his index finger. He then walked off to aisle seven; Potter reluctantly trailing after him. "And I thought you said you wanted to be useful?"

"Yes but you're being very-" Potter said.

"Very what?" Severus cut through as he plucked up a packaged loaf of bread, squeezing it to checking how fresh it was before placing it back and picking up a different one.

"Difficult." Potter stressed.

"I'm not the one who can't follow basic instructions." Severus pointed out, adding the loaf to his basket. Then he neatly folded over the top of his list so he could no longer see Bread.

"Fine, what's next?" Potter requested.

"Soup." Severus informed him as he automatically began walking towards the next aisle.

"Simple enough." Potter nodded as he followed along behind him. "What kind of soup do you want?"

"Today's monday, so I'd usually have tomato." Severus answered but as Potter grabbed a can, he held up his hand. "But I had tomato yesterday."

Placing the can back, Potter replied "Well, what do you want to have today?"

"I don't know." Severus admitted as he felt the shelf upon shelf of different flavors of soup rather overwhelming.

"If you don't know which one you want why did you put it on the list?" Potter questioned, exasperated.

"I may not know which soup I want but I know I want some." Severus reasoned.

"What about chicken?" Potter suggested.

"Hmm." Severus hummed in thought and shuck his head. "No, I had chicken on thursday."

"Okay." Potter said. "Cream of mushroom?"

"I can't eat creamy soups they make me ill."

"Minestrone?"

"No."

"Carrot and coriander?"

Severus said nothing wrinkling his nose at the suggestion.

"Lentil?" Potter continued.

After a moments pause to think Severus said "Oxtail."

"Oxtail." The boy sighed with relief and finding a can he went to place it in Severus' basket. "Are you sure this is the one you want? You're not going to change your mind?"

"Don't make me question my decision because I will change my mind." Severus stated, firmly.

"Got it." Potter hummed and placing the can in the basket, he asked "What else do you need?"

"Biscuits." Severus replied.

"Do you have a specific type of biscuit you want to buy?" Potter questioned, apprehensively.

"No." Severus answered simply causing Potter to sigh, heavily.

"Okay, let's go." Potter mumbled reluctantly as he followed behind Severus, who led their way into the confectionery aisle.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well... that was certainly... something." Potter muttered as he slumped against Severus' front door.

"We would have been home sooner had you not been prone to dawdling." Severus pointed out as he began to pack away the shopping, tucking away the bread lovingly in the bread bin and closing the lid. As he placed away the eggs, there was a knock on the front door. Quickly placing his shopping bags down on the tile flooring he walked over to where Potter was and making a shooing motions with his hands he called "Who is it?"

"Postman, mister Snape." a man's voice answered, Severus recognizing it as that belonging to his local postman mister Saunders. "Parcel for you." The mail slot on his door opened and a clipboard with a form and pen past halfway through. "If you'll sign on the form, please?"

Pulling the clipboard through, Severus took up the pen and after thoroughly reading through the form to make sure he knew exactly what he was signing for and suppressing his want to bite his bottom lip in anticipation, he wrote down his signature on the dotted line. He then carefully fed the clipboard and pen back through the door.

"That's grand." mister Saunders said. "Parcels by the door and letters underneath."

Severus pressed his ear to the door cautiously and when he was sure that the postman had left the area, he opened the door and picking up the post from off the ground by his door and, closed it behind him. After securing the door with a flick of his wand, he turned back around and found himself faced with a perplexed looking Potter. "You don't open the door for the postman?" the boy asked as Severus returned to the kitchen.

"Why on earth would I want to open the door to a stranger? Let alone one that could be carrying anything with them." Severus stated in a calm and rational sounding voice, though in truth he was highly anxious about opening the door to anyone, especially strangers. But he knew that his anxiety would soon fly out the window the moment he had finished packing away the shopping. He certainly didn't trust Potter to do it, if that morning's discovery was anything to go by.

Nestling the small handful of chocolate bars behind the head of lettuce in the vegetable draw in the fridge while the boy wasn't looking but making sure to secure one up his sleeve as well as a can of cola hidden inside his pocket, he picked up his post and all but spirited upstairs. "I am not to be disturbed for the next few hours, understood?" He did not wait for a reply as he entered his bedroom. Making sure the room was locked and the silencing charm had been cast, he placed his can on the coaster on the small coffee table made up of old cardboard boxes with a table cloth covering them. Then setting down his chocolate bar next to it and angled just so, he threw himself down on the his bed, excitably. 

Setting the box aside for the time being, he whispered to it "Don't worry, I'll get to you later." Then ignoring the other letters that could wait until tomorrow to read, Severus carefully opened the large A4 sized envelop and pulled out that months copy of Nintendo Power. He had eagerly been awaiting it's arrival for the past few days but for it to arrive the same day as his parcel? Yes, despite the day's beginnings it was going to be a good day. Setting aside the envelop to place the magazine back inside when he was done later, Severus rolled over onto his stomach and cracking open his can one handed; he flipped through to the Super Mario Adventure Comics. "Ah, Luigi you magnificent bastard what are you and Mario up to today?" he sighed happily to himself as he smirked down at the comic panels, putting Potter straight out of his mind.


End file.
